Sussan Ley (Farrer, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Women) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for the Environment and Water. Does the minister still support the introduction of a federal environmental protection agency, including in Western Australia?

Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Environment and Water) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am so delighted to get this question from the Deputy Leader of the Opposition. She is one of the strongest advocates for environmental law reform. She in fact was—

Opposition Member:

An opposition member interjecting

Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Environment and Water) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Well, the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, as I said at the beginning—

As I said at the beginning, the Deputy Leader of the Opposition—

Opposition members interjecting—

There's a difference between 'strong' and 'aggro'. The aggro is constantly on display.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! We're going to cease interjections on the left and the minister is going to return to the question.

Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Environment and Water) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Deputy Leader of the Opposition was the environment minister for a time. Many people don't remember that, but she was, and when Professor Graeme Samuel presented the previous government with his review of John Howard's broken environmental laws it was the Deputy Leader of the Opposition who made a strong case that our laws did indeed need reforming.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The minister was answering the question, giving context around—I guess what she's talking about—the EPBC, but I'll hear from the Deputy Leader of the Opposition.

Sussan Ley (Farrer, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Women) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I raise a point of order on relevance. I respectfully submit that the minister was going nowhere near the question, which was quite straightforward and quite simple: does she still support the introduction of a federal EPA, including in Western Australia?

Honourable members interjecting—

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! We just don't need the commentary when people are on their feet with their entitlement to raise a point of order. The minister's had one minute. She is being directly relevant; she's giving some historical context. But I'll ask her to return to the question she was asked to make sure she is being directly relevant so she can answer the deputy leader's question.

Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Environment and Water) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I will. I'll just go to the Deputy Leader of the Opposition's exact quote in 2021:

The Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 is 20 years old and needs modernising to ensure Australia can meet current and future environment and heritage protection challenges.

We made it very clear through our Nature Positive Plan and through our laws that we wanted to see progress—progress to deliver stronger protection for nature and progress to provide faster, clearer decisions for business. There's no business in the country that believes the environment laws are working to progress projects quickly, nor is there any environmental organisation or anyone with any common sense that thinks that our laws are working to protect nature effectively.

Now, we took a very balanced package through the House of Representatives. We took it to the Senate. Unfortunately, the Liberals and the Nationals once again teamed up with the Greens political party to delay and to obfuscate and to refuse to make progress on our environmental law reforms, which would have delivered a strong, independent EPA with strong new powers and penalties, but would also have delivered faster, clearer decisions for business, based on greater regional planning, more transparency, more data and clearer decision-making processes. Sadly, the Senate we have at the moment doesn't allow us to progress every piece of legislation that we put to it. We've taken the legislation off the Notice Paper because we see that the deliberate delays and denial of those opposite, teamed up with the Greens political party, mean that there was no path through in this parliament. (Time expired)